


Summer Webisodes

by JustLikeTheSong



Series: NYC Spin-Off 'Verse [26]
Category: Glee
Genre: Comedy, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-06 23:39:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3152603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLikeTheSong/pseuds/JustLikeTheSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four "webisodes" set during the summer of 2013 - after Kurt, Blaine, Santana, and Rachel's first year in New York.</p><p>Webisode #1: "Put a Ring On It" (Kurt)<br/>Webisode #2: "Deliver" (Blaine)<br/>Webisode #3: "Sandcastle and the Surf" (Santana)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Put A Ring On It

[ Kurt ](http://i-thought-we-were-practicing.tumblr.com/post/39665842458/original-by-pencilpushingenthusiast) shifted nervously on the well=worn couch in his old living room.  He noticed it felt different.  Someone - maybe Dad or Finn - had worn a new groove into it over the past year.

Blaine squeezed his hand.  “It’s going to be fine.”

“Totally fine,” Kurt echoed, “just another average day, telling your dad and step-mom that you’re engaged at age 20.”

“...your dad doesn’t still have that flamethrower, does he?”

They both jumped a little when [ Carole ](http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/glee/images/8/80/CoA-Carole.png/revision/latest?cb=20140312195334) suddenly waddled into the room, balancing a tray with glasses and a pitcher of lemonade on her big belly.   [ Dad ](http://www.withanaccent.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/tumblr_mtdzal8sct1qbqtkso1_1280-297x300.png) followed closely behind with a plate of sandwiches.

“I wish you would’ve let us help with that,” Blaine said, putting on his best, most appealing smile.  Kurt knew he was much more nervous than he was letting on.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dad said, setting down the plate and then easing into his chair.  It was new - he’d given Kurt his old favorite to take to New York.

“I’m sure you’re both exhausted from last night anyway,” Carole said as she poured the lemonade.

Kurt and Blaine exchanged a sidelong glance.  They’d certainly been celebrating long into the night, but it wasn’t for Mr. Schue getting dumped at the altar, and a lot of the celebrating had been in private, so to speak.

“From all that dancing,” Dad added wryly, and Kurt tried not to blush. Carole smirked.

Blaine cleared his throat.  “Anyway, there’s something we’d like to tell you.”

Kurt resisted the urge to elbow Blaine.  He hadn’t thought they’d just jump right in, especially immediately after comments about their previous night!  So much for having a charming boyfriend who knew how to butter up the in-laws.

Then he had to smile.  In-laws.  Dad and Carole were going to be Blaine’s in-laws.  Because Blaine wasn’t his boyfriend anymore; he was his fiance.

Dad and Carole looked at them expectantly.  Dad took a, in Kurt’s opinion, rather aggressive bite of his sandwich.

“Last night, Kurt and I evaluated where we are in our lives and relationship, and decided-”

“I asked Blaine to marry me,” Kurt blurted out, much as he had the actual proposal.

A weighted silence followed.

“I said yes,” Blaine offered with a hopeful tone.

Just when Kurt thought his heart might just beat right out of his chest, Carole broke the silence.

“Well, I’m not entirely surprised.  I do hope you’ll at least wait until after I’ve popped this baby out.”

Kurt and Blaine both laughed in surprise at the grin on her face, but quickly sobered as they waited for Dad to say something.

To Kurt’s astonishment, there wasn’t a look of disappointment or concern on his face.  Instead, he had tears in his eyes.

“Dad…?”

“I know you’re both young, and to be honest if it was anyone else, I’d say you were being idiots, but…” He shook his head and adjusted his hat. “I’m just so damn happy for you, Kurt.”

Kurt sprang up and gave him a hug, feeling himself tear up, too.

“And Blaine,” he heard Dad say over his shoulder.

As hugs and cheek kisses were exchanged in a number of combinations, Kurt thought to himself that the past 24 hours were the perfect start to the summer.

***

“I’m just glad everyone’s still here!” [ Rachel ](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0p2ixmvpi1qeds6ko1_500.jpg) was saying.   [ Quinn ](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m889etSYqV1qeds6ko1_500.jpg) and [ Tina ](http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meqj11m3ds1qilqg8.png) added their agreement and [ Kurt ](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mczzncUSuA1qeds6ko1_500.jpg) hummed in response.

It turned out his parents decided to relieve him of further engagement announcing-related stress by throwing an engagement party last-minute, so everyone from Ohio could find out all at once. Most of the guests at the Pillsbury-Schuester not-wedding who now lived somewhere else hadn’t gone back home yet.

Kurt could think of worse ways to spend a Sunday night than having person after person tell him how great a couple he and Blaine were.  And he wasn’t going to say no to the pile of hastily-wrapped gifts sitting on a table in one corner of the community hall.

He had taught [ Carole ](http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/137035811-romy-rosemont-attends-the-2012-tca-winter-filmmagic.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF87892155F29F61288AC1CAFD085362A2E863228F9E7CFC97187243ECD3524C63818401E30A760B0D811297) well.  Though the venue wouldn’t have been his first choice, she’d really risen to the occasion, employing Rachel, Tina, [ Mercedes, Sam ](http://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Glee516-00097.jpg) , and [ Finn ](http://bill.brioux.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/small_WHITE_JUMPING_014.jpg) to help decorate and put together some food and entertainment.

He straightened up slightly and excused himself from his little cluster with the girls when he spotted [ Blaine’s mom ](http://gcmusiccenter.org/files/2012/04/salonga.jpg) walk in, looking around curiously, but [ Blaine ](http://24.media.tumblr.com/8974327a411c3488847f90bc9fc57661/tumblr_mg6douFX6E1qg49w0o1_500.jpg) arrived at the entrance before he did, pulling his mom into a hug.

“Kurt,” his future mother-in-law said with a tentative smile.

“Mrs. Anderson; it’s so nice to see you again.”

They both hesitated for a moment; they’d only met each other one other time, after all.  But Blaine pulled them both into a hug and they let out small, relieved laughs.

“I suppose we’ll have to figure out something different for you to call me,” she told Kurt, almost shyly, “after all, I can’t have my son-in-law calling me Mrs. Anderson.”

“Don’t count your eggs just yet,” [ Santana ](http://40.media.tumblr.com/faf95bd5b4a28a4f16581a5a5394f436/tumblr_n1xmdiVwHO1qeds6ko1_500.jpg) said, sidling up with [ Brittany ](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aHwBmL4sagA/TQJoEn7prZI/AAAAAAAABOM/bLvfG2u6EMI/s400/heather_morris_5349781.jpg) in tow.  She turned to Kurt and Blaine. “You guys know your weird teenage betrothal doesn’t count until we see rings on those fingers, right? By the way, Hummel, don’t think I’m not going to constantly bring up how you trashed Rachel and Finn’s engagement last year.  I loves me some hypocrisy.”

“I didn’t trash it,” Kurt protested, glancing at Blaine’s mom nervously.

“And we’re not teenagers,” Blaine reminded Santana.

“Hi, I’m Santana, Blaine and Kurt’s room mate and part-time advisor,” she said to Blaine’s mom, “and this is my girlfriend Brittany.  You’ll see us at the wedding, I’m sure.”

“We’ll be the hottest ones there,” Brittany said mildly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet any friends of Blaine’s,” Blaine’s mom said with a polite, confused smile. “But these girls do raise an interesting question.  Are the two of you going to have engagement rings? Or just one? How...how does that work when it’s two...people of the same gender?”

Right then she looked as if she was terrified to say something wrong, and Kurt relaxed.  He barely knew the woman, but so far, her interactions with Blaine and general attitude recommended her much more than Blaine’s father.

“It’s totally true,” [ Sugar ](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m59gmbVvyU1qi8ya5o1_500.jpg) said, butting into their conversation, “it don’t mean a thang if you ain’t got that bling.” She wiggled her fingers, which sparkled with all the jewellery she was wearing.

“We actually haven’t really discussed it yet,” Blaine said gently to his mom.

“I’m just happy he said yes,” Kurt joked, and they all laughed, including Sugar, who immediately sobered and told him and Blaine in no uncertain terms that she better be invited to the wedding “because otherwise you’re not getting the super awesome present I already thought up and my daddy is paying for.”

***

Kurt and Blaine flew back two days after their engagement party, which went long into the night, with lots of dancing, several solos courtesy of Rachel, an impromptu Troubletones number to the tune of Beyonce’s _Love on Top_ , a tearful serenade from Kurt to Blaine and vice versa, and a speech by Dad that didn’t leave a dry eye in the room.  Rachel and Santana were both staying in Lima another week, so Blaine and Kurt had the loft to themselves for their first few days as fiances.

They didn’t have much time to enjoy it, however, as their lives quickly caught back up with them.  Blaine started his training for his job at The Spotlight Diner, and he spent a lot of time rehearsing his audition for April Rhodes’s summer pet project.  And Kurt’s workload seemed to have doubled with his promotion, though his pay raise wasn’t going to kick in for a few more weeks.

Still, they made an effort to spend time together, and not just in their bed in the, for once, otherwise empty loft.

Saturday morning, just a little over one week since the moment Kurt proposed, [he](http://40.media.tumblr.com/a71e8b9cde178a2eef833413899f3b4d/tumblr_nhy39gLyhy1qeds6ko1_500.jpg) and [Blaine](http://36.media.tumblr.com/82767c49e1df27145811d68fffa9601e/tumblr_nh4pp0Bmdv1qeds6ko1_500.jpg) were walking hand in and hand, sipping on iced coffees, on their way to a farmer’s market, when Blaine suddenly tugged on Kurt’s hand a little, causing him to swing out and around until they were facing a store.

The Store.

“Tiffany’s,” Kurt breathed.  He looked over at Blaine, who was smiling at him with soft eyes.  “Oh God.  We’re really doing this.”

Blaine held up their breakfast, purchased along with their coffees.  “If you want to.”

Kurt narrowed his eyes.  “Blaine Anderson, if you planned a flash mob in the streets of New York or a number guaranteed to get us kicked out of the store and didn’t leave sheet music or concept art lying around the loft for me to find so I could at least know my cues and staging, I’m calling this whole thing off.”

Blaine laughed.  “No, no flash mob.  Though that is a good idea - maybe one in Central Park?  But not for today.  To be honest, I just wanted to do this the first moment we could, and there simply wasn’t enough time to orchestrate a number worthy of this occasion.”

Kurt’s heart melted a little at Blaine’s sweet expression and he took a deep breath.  “Okay.  Here we go.”

It seemed like a dream, wandering amongst all the glitter and gold, Blaine’s hand firmly clasped with is.  At first, Kurt thought they’d be stuck there all day, unable to decide, but they both seemed to spot what they wanted at the exact same time.  The total price was certainly steep, but they reasoned that since these would eventually be their wedding rings, too, they could swing it.

They didn’t put the rings on in the store, but took their little blue boxes and left, giddy but filled with a kind of quiet awe that took them all the way to a nearby park they’d picnicked in more than once.

Standing in front of a small pond, they pulled the rings out and held each other’s in their hands.

Kurt could feel himself tearing up a little.  He looked at Blaine, hesitating for a second, and Blaine let out a watery laugh.  His hazel eyes were bright and reflected Kurt’s nervous excitement back at them.

“How do we…?”

Neither of them answered Kurt’s half-question.  Blaine’s lips quirked up into a tiny smile and his eyes dropped to their hands.  He took Kurt’s hand gently and placed [Kurt’s ring](http://www.weddingringsetss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/tungsten-rings-for-men_1.jpg) on the tip of his right ring finger.  Their eyes met as he slid it on.  Kurt shivered.

Then it was his turn.  His fingers trembled as he grasped Blaine’s right hand and slid [his ring](http://loveringreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Men-engagement-ring-hand.jpeg) into place.

Kurt imagined it, the day when these same rings would be placed on their other ring fingers.  And they’d officially be husbands.

His hands laced with Blaine’s and they leaned forwards in unison, wrapping their arms around each other as they kissed in the bright morning light.


	2. Deliver

“Kurt, you wouldn’t believe the shift I had tonight. This one old lady sat there for hours, just getting refills on her tea and giving me the weirdest looks the whole time. especially when we did a rather risque rendition of Mustang Sally-”

[Blaine](http://25.media.tumblr.com/043a011f11dcb26bc387df5641105f23/tumblr_n30ti9Ijpd1rlylr1o2_250.gif) stopped mid-rant, throwing his satchel on the sofa as he looked at [Kurt](http://www.mensfashionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/red-bold.jpg), who was standing in front of what was now probably some slightly-congealed pasta and frowning down at his cell phone.

“What’s wrong?” Blaine hugged him from behind and Kurt shook his head a little, as if coming out of a haze.

“Oh, hi honey,” he said distractedly, patting Blaine’s arm. Blaine let him go so he could rescue the pasta. “I was just on the phone with Finn,” Kurt explained, “and we’re trying to figure out what to do about this weekend.”

“What about it?”

“Well, my dad has had a special fishing trip planned with a couple buddies, and the deposit is just too much to lose by cancelling now. He didn’t think it would be a problem, because Finn would still be at home, but Finn just realized, last minute as usual, that this same weekend, he has a workshop for his summer semester that he can’t miss.”

“So Carole will be on her own,” Blaine finished, and Kurt nodded.

“I would go to Lima for a few days, but I’m absolutely swamped at Vogue. I know Isabelle would be sympathetic, but she just can’t spare me right now.”

Blaine felt a small burst of pride for his very important fiance at his very important job. “What about Carole’s friends?”

Kurt sighed. “Most of her friends are through her job, and since they’re covering for her during her leave, they can’t really spare anyone either. This wouldn’t be such a big deal, but since she’s so close to her due date, and this is such a late-in-life pregnancy...no one wants to take any chances.”

Blaine shrugged. “I can spend the weekend with her.”

Kurt blinked. “...you can?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any shifts at the diner, and Rachel and I are still waiting to hear about Down With Love, so…” Blaine spread his arms into a bigger shrug. “Besides, with you so busy, I’ll barely get to see you this weekend anyway.”

Kurt beamed. “You really don’t mind?”

“Of course not! This is my family too now, right?”

“Right," Kurt said, nodding enthusiastically, "and I’m sure it’ll be a very low-key weekend, anyway. You’ll probably end up munching on fetus-friendly snacks together while you binge watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries. Dad tells me Carole’s been really into Austen adaptations lately.”

***

The first half of the weekend went almost exactly how Kurt predicted. Carole wasn’t an especially grouchy mom-to-be, so Blaine spent most of his time at the Hudson-Hummel residence going on short walks, watching Emma and Pride and Prejudice, and letting Carole entertain him with baby pictures of both Kurt and Finn. He enjoyed taking care of people anyway, making sure they were looked after and happy. It was an important trait he and Kurt had in common, and Blaine knew he certainly appreciated it in Kurt whenever he was feeling under the weather or stressed about school.

But come late Saturday night, their pleasant, uneventful weekend flew right out the window. Carole had already gone to sleep, and [Blaine](http://37.media.tumblr.com/dc91f035af11685cc44b0bd7d1675002/tumblr_n3qra3J6rb1r4gxc3o10_1280.jpg) was brushing his teeth, having just changed into his pyjamas, when he heard her calling. Still brushing his teeth, he walked to the entrance to the master bedroom and saw [Carole](http://www.nctshop.co.uk/images/2576-5.jpg) sitting up, looking at him with wide-eyes in the dim light from her bedside lamp.

“Blaine, the baby is coming.” Blaine stared at her, still holding the toothbrush in his mouth. “We have to go to the hospital.”

“Oh!” Blaine jumped a little and then spoke, mumbling around the toothbrush, his hands raised in the air, palms towards Carole as if to reassure her, though he suspected he was the one who was in greater need of reassurance. “Okay, this is happening. Don’t worry, Carole, I’ve got everything covered.” He raced around, quickly spitting his toothpaste out, grabbing the go-bag and the car keys, and heading outside. Just as he turned the keys in the ignition, he realized the passenger seat was empty.

“Oh my God!” He yelped, jumping up again and running back to the front door, where Carole had just appeared, and helped her to the car.

“I’m doing a terrible job,” he told her frantically as he opened the door for her and then rushed back around to the driver’s side.

“You’re doing fine,” Carole told him as she concentrated on taking deep, even breaths, “when we had a false alarm two weeks ago, Burt was halfway down the block before he realized I wasn’t in the car.”

The next 10 hours were some of the most stressful in Blaine’s life. Not that he wasn’t fully aware that the whole ordeal was infinitely more stressful for Carole, but she seemed to deal with it all rather well, all things considered, and together, they managed to avoid some of the delivery room cliches Blaine had seen in countless sitcoms. Carole didn’t squeeze his hand so hard that he screamed (in fact, she didn’t actually scream, either, though it was obvious in her voice and expression that giving birth to a baby wasn’t without pain and discomfort), Blaine had politely avoided witnessing the moment when the baby officially entered the world and so hadn’t passed out in the delivery room from delicate male sensibilities, and Carole hadn’t cursed him, or Burt, or any of the hospital staff, to hell.

The night and morning were not without their own special chaos, though. When they arrived at the hospital, Blaine realized he wasn’t wearing any shoes, and so the hospital staff had given him slippers typically meant for patients. And while he got a hold of Kurt and Finn easily enough, he couldn’t contact Burt for the life of him. When he told Carole this, she had promptly burst into tears, and the nurse present and asked him to leave for a while in a very annoyed tone.

But all of that seemed inconsequential in the moment when the doctor lifted the crying baby up with a “Congratulations, Mrs. Hudson,” and placed the newborn on Carole’s stomach, giving mother and child that first contact and letting the baby stay there while she was wiped clean and the umbilical cord was cut.

“Carole, she’s beautiful,” Blaine said softly. Carole’s smile as she gazed down at her baby, exhausted as she was, was beautiful too.

***

“Maybe she’ll be really tall like me,” [Finn](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35000000/Finn-Season-5-picture-cory-monteith-35057905-500-498.jpg) said, cradling his new sister safely. He had left his workshop as soon as it ended and rushed to the hospital. But Kurt, though he had much further to travel, had beaten him by an hour.

“She has my chin,” [he](http://24.media.tumblr.com/335e6478f242f15a5baaf40b900661eb/tumblr_moww41cEf51qzersvo1_500.jpg) said proudly, and he gently tickled said chin with the tip of his finger. When Finn first arrived, Kurt had driven [Blaine](https://31.media.tumblr.com/ee07383c25b554d3727eb9e49a65ee7f/tumblr_mxkhzzYcHM1rlylr1o9_r2_250.gif) back to the Hudson-Hummel residence for a shower and a quick nap. The exhaustion had hit Blaine so hard that he hadn’t even realized that Kurt had left him there. When he woke up, he phoned his fiance to come get him and bring him to the hospital again.

All he had dreamed of was the look of awe and joy on Kurt’s face when he first saw his little sister. Blaine would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought of that same expression appearing again in the future, if and when they welcomed a new addition to their own little family unit.

“Alright, boys, let’s give baby back to Mum for a bit,” a nurse said to them. “Okay,” Finn said reluctantly, handing the baby over to him carefully.

They sat talking quietly, letting Carole have a little alone-time with her daughter. Kurt and Finn had a mini-spat over one of the frankly ridiculous names Finn had suggested for the baby, and both of them interrogated Blaine over the events of the past 16 hours, eyeing him suspiciously as if waiting for him to slip up and admit to some major mistake as caretaker of their mother and sister.

Not five minutes later, [Burt](http://www.lstudio.com/img/3MTS_Ep8_Mike_O_Malley_640x360.jpg) finally burst through the doors. He spared the three of them a glance as he looked around, and then his eyes settled on Carole and the baby, his face softening from frantic searching to absolute love and relief. He strode over to them without a word, and Blaine had to look away from their intimate moment. He looked instead at Kurt, who was wiping away a happy tear.

And his mind was filled with thoughts of the future again.


	3. Sandcastle and the Surf

“You look super hot,” [Brittany](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnorkzqQTa1qkqhufo1_500.jpg) said, eyeing [Santana](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dAPuT9ZY-SA/T31Yz-CwKTI/AAAAAAAABms/8V2bEwlbVIk/s1600/JESUS.jpg) up and down as they walked hand in hand in the heat of a New York summer evening.

“Well, so do you,” Santana said, grinning, “I should’ve brought a bat to beat all the salivating ladies away tonight.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Brittany told her sagely, “if anyone tries to move in on my girlfriend, the spirits of the river will rise up and turn them into trees for the rest of eternity.”

Santana laughed and wound an arm around Brittany’s waist, hugging her closer as they walked.  “I don’t think it’s that kind of rapture, Brit.”

They were on their way, nearly there, to Rapture on the River, a women-only dance party the night before the NYC Pride March.  “Now remember, we can’t party too hard or too late tonight, since Blaine and Kurt are going with us to the parade tomorrow, and I don’t need them to be all smug and condescending if we’re hungover and dead to the world and they’re not because they’re boring old marrieds who never go out and have fun.”

“I think it’s sweet, though,” Brittany said, snuggling against Santana, “it’ll be so cool when you and I can just stay home at the loft for a night in like that.”

Santana pursed her lips.  She and Brittany still hadn’t talked about that particular topic.  But it was only the end of June; they had time.  She just wasn’t sure how to tell her girlfriend that even though she was so excited to live in the same city as her again, she wasn’t sure about actually living together.  Not yet.

“You know what?  All I want to think about right now is getting my dance on with my smoking hot girlfriend,” Santana said as they arrived and joined the crowd of women lined up and ready to party.  She glared at a dark haired chick who was giving Brittany a once-over.

Brittany blushed, smiling, but her smile was for Santana alone.  “Okay, but if I do start smoking, I give you permission to push me into the river.”

Santana grinned and pulled Brittany in for a kiss, feeling her smile bloom even wider against her lips.

***

Santana loved having Brittany visit her in New York, she really did.  There was always so much to do and so many things to show Brit; every weekend trip was like a new adventure.  And she knew that that wouldn’t change when Brittany moved to the city in the fall.  Having her girlfriend so near after surviving a year apart was going to be absolutely amazing.

So she wasn’t sure why the thought of actually living with Brittany caused her thoughts to stutter to an uncertain halt.  Every time Brittany brought it up, over the phone, in text messages, during a Skype session, or when she was visiting, Santana changed the topic.

She hated doing it; it was something she’d learned to do in high school, when she was afraid of facing things head on.  And she definitely hated doing it with Brittany, since she had worked so hard to be honest with her.  And even if she wasn’t telling any outright lies, it was starting to feel like she wasn’t being truthful, either.

It was mid-July, and [she](http://24.media.tumblr.com/2d59cfad0ef2cd0953c15e052801b84e/tumblr_n30z7yPHn51qeds6ko1_500.jpg) and [Brit ](http://www.heather-morris.org/gallery/albums/Shoots/2008/Shoot%2001/normal_010.jpg)were getting ice cream at the [Creamery](http://newyork.timeout.com/restaurants-bars/restaurants/1348041/ample-hills-creamery), when she thought she might finally be able to address it in a real way.

“Daddy got Mom an ice cream maker last Christmas, but now she’s doing some lifestyle-change diet and she told me she could have it,” Brittany was saying as she took a lick of her ice cream cone (“ooey gooey butter cake”), “I was thinking it could go next to Kurt’s fancy coffee maker.”

Santana took a too-big bite of her own ice cream (“The Raw Deal”) and winced as she allowed the tasty cream to melt before speaking.  “You know, Brit...I’m not sure there’ll be any room.  Uh...the loft is kind of packed already.”

Brittany blinked and just looked at Santana for a moment, but then smiled.  “Okay, I don’t need to bring it.  And don’t worry; I don’t have much stuff.  And you and I can share clothes, too.  But I’m not lending anything to Rachel.  I’m afraid she’ll feed my clothes to some raccoon to repay me for that time I fed her money to a goat.”

Santana gave her a smile, but she was too distracted to even summon a half-decent insult for Rachel.  She’d lost her nerve again, and summer was more than half over.  If she kept this crap up, Brittany would arrive in New York in September expecting to stay at the loft, complete with built-in playgrounds for her cats.  Santana knew it wouldn’t work out, not with the current set up she had with Blaine and Kurt and Rachel, and she knew that the longer she delayed this conversation, the less likely Brittany would be able to make arrangements that didn’t involve her sleeping in the streets or living in a crack house.  Not that Santana would ever let it come to that, but she still felt like she was failing her girlfriend and her room mates at the same time.

***

“One, two, three!” [Kurt and Blaine](http://i-thought-we-were-practicing.tumblr.com/post/39745505270/original-by-pencilpushingenthusiast-tumblr-com) shouted as [Brittany and Santana](http://img1.ranker.com/user_node_img/50014/1000272810/full/naya-rivera-with-heather-morris-photo-u1.jpg) yelled in unison, hands clasped as they jumped up and backwards off the pier.  Blaine snapped their photo in the split second they were in the air before they plummeted down into the water.

It was the start of August, and Brittany’s third visit to New York that summer, and she’d manage to cajole Santana into going for a beach day trip to Long Island with everyone instead of taking advantage of a big, empty loft while her room mates were gone.

Or maybe Santana had been just as eager to get out.  She’d resolved to settle the living together issue this weekend, and she thought it would be easier to do somewhere away from her apartment in Bushwick.  Something told her she’d have a hard time convincing herself, much less Brittany, that she wasn’t ready for that step if she was lying in bed with her girlfriend in the very loft Brittany wanted to move into.

After a lunch of fish and chips and fresh bottles of water, Santana sat on the beach with Brittany, who was concentrating very hard on the sandcastle she was making.  Santana rolled her eyes at [Rachel’s](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8roxwHS6j1qj9pbmo1_500.jpg) playful shriek as [her new boy toy](http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/1/3/4/4/8/6/5/Hunter-Parrish-57157984998.jpeg) scooped her up from ankle-deep water and carried her out further.

“All done!” Brittany proclaimed proudly, and Santana looked down at the sandcastle that in fact wasn’t a sandcastle at all.  As she studied it, she realized it was actually an impressively accurate layout of the loft.

It was time.

“Brit, why did you make that?”

“I wanted to make a sand version of my future home,” Brittany said simply, “next I’m going to go find two starfish to be you and me, two seahorses to be Kurt and Blaine, and a sea slug to be Rachel.”

Santana frowned. “Hey, what’s with the hostility towards Berry? You know that’s my job.”

“Well, she’s a girl who gets to live with my girlfriend,” Brittany said slowly, as if explaining a very obvious concept. “Sea slug.”

It was at that moment, when she met Brittany’s eyes, that Santana realized she already knew, or at least had an idea, what Santana was going to say.

“Brit...I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for you to move into the loft this fall.”

Brittany’s mouth turned down, and she looked so injured that Santana wanted to take it all back.  But another part of her was just so relieved that her thoughts were finally out there.  And she knew that if they could get through a year of long-distance, they could manage this, too.

“I’m just not sure if I’m ready to live together,” Santana said, stressing that the issue was with her.

“Blaine and Kurt lived together as soon as they could,” Brittany said, glancing over at them, “they even have rings now.”

Santana looked at them too, where Kurt was leaning back against Blaine’s legs and reading from a magazine out loud.  Blaine smiled at something he read and carried on slathering sunscreen over Kurt’s lily-white shoulders.

“It’s different, though,” Santana tried to explain, desperate to take that sad look off Brittany’s face, “those two have always been this like, couple of old, lame men.  I’m pretty sure they’re actually 80 year olds trapped in the bodies of people our age.”

Brittany’s lip trembled.  “I want to be a wrinkly old lady with you.”

Santana pulled her close. “I want that too, Brit, believe me. You know I want to be with you, and I’m so excited for you to come to New York.  I just...I guess those three weirdos, I’ve gotten used to living with them.  They’re like...like my family now, and I’m not quite ready to go changing things around.  You know how I am about change.  You remember what a mess I was last year when it was time to leave you alone in Lima and go to New York by myself.  They were really there for me then, when I couldn’t have you close by.”

Brittany wiped away a tear and gave Santana a soft, tremulous smile.  “But now you can have me close.”

“I know, and I promise I’ll be there for you, and be the best girlfriend I can be.  I’m just...not ready to live together.”

Brittany looked out to the sea.  Blaine and Kurt had gotten up and joined Rachel and Derick in the water.  It looked like they were playing Marco Polo like the losers they all were, but they were having fun.  Santana suddenly wished she’d never brought this issue up, wished she and Brit were over there with them, laughing and having a good time.

“Please say you don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

Santana looked at Brittany, surprised by her calm tone.  Her face wasn’t crumpled in anger or misery, either.  

Brittany sighed, plucking a stray seagull feather up and placing it in Santana’s room in the sandloft.  “Lord Tubbington warned me about this.  Princess Abernathy said there wasn’t anything wrong, but she’s still young and learning.”

“Brit?”

“I’ve been trying to talk to you about it all summer, but I was afraid.  I was afraid what you’d say.”

Santana’s heart sunk.  “I’m sorry.”  The last thing she wanted to do was be the cause of Brittany’s pain or fear.  She swallowed thickly.

Brittany shook her head. “No, Santana.  It’s okay.  Because I understand.  You’re not ready, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to.  It doesn’t mean that it won’t happen someday.”

“So you’re okay with this?”

“Hmm.”  Brittany got up and brushed the sand off her body.  Santana let herself enjoy the sight of her long-limbed, gorgeous girlfriend in a bikini, the sun dancing on her skin and shining in her golden hair. “Well, I do admit I’m not exactly happy that I won’t be able to have special alone time with you whenever I want, but I’ll deal with that.”

Santana rolled her eyes as Brittany helped her to her feet.  “Believe me, that wouldn’t be possible even if you were at the loft, not with those three nosy idiots living in the same space.”

Brittany turned towards the water, but looked over her shoulder with a sly smile, her eyes now playful and inviting Santana to chase after her as she started to run.

“I guess I’ll just need to find a place on my own that we can have all to ourselves!” She called, and suddenly Santana’s mind was filled with all the possibilities the upcoming year held.

She raced after Brittany, who had begun to flap her arms like a bird as she danced in the shallow water, and as Santana’s feet hit the waves and her arms circled around her girlfriend, that feeling of youthful freedom truly hit her for the first time that summer.


End file.
